Penguin Group USA has plucked its first author from its new electronic slush pile

Ace Books, an imprint of Penguin, has signed the debut novelist Kerry Schafer to a two-book deal, only weeks after Ms. Schafer posted writing samples on Bookcountry.com, a Web site Penguin introduced in April that invites writers of genre fiction to share their work. Penguin created Book Country as a site where aspiring authors could post their writing and receive critiques from other users - with the hope that some of the writers might be good enough to publish under the Penguin name